Best and worse of 2006?

Best:

Bangladesh being competitive in the 1st Test against Australia;
Monty Panesar
South Africa v Australia 5th ODI
Warne getting 700 - it had it to happen

Ruined:

England not being competitive enough against Australia in the Ashes
Wasim Raja
Sir Clive Walcott
The PCB handling over the drug tests of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammed Asif, I have lost all respect for them and it shows they are not keen on stamping out drugs in sport if this is their attitude
The Ball Tampering fiasco
Fardin passing away

Beware the lollipop of mediocrity. Lick once and you suck forever...

RIP Fardin Qayyumi, a true legend of CW

Originally Posted by Boobidy

Bradman never had to face quicks like Sharma and Irfan Pathan. He wouldn't of lasted a ball against those 2, not to mention a spinner like Sehwag.

The Best
- Bangladesh giving Australia a scare in a test match
- The emergence of Monty Panesar and Sreesanth
- India finally winning in the West Indies
- CW rising to new heights
- Classy Farewell for Warne and McGrath

The Best
The Ashes build up - The months building up to the first ball at the Gabba were insane.
India winning a Test for the first time in SA - Historic
Aussie champions leaving on a high
Champions Trophy not being a run-fest and being rather enjoyable
Mike Hussey
Jason Gillespie 201*
Ford Ranger Cup - domestic one-dayers have been amazing

The Worst
Dean Jones being a tool
Ovalgate - seems people wanted to make it into more of a controversy than it should have been.
The drama on the CT podium - blown way out of proportion.
Border quitting from the selection panel because of a marketing campaign - dire as.
Mick Lewis
English selectors and their decisions leading up to and throughout the Ashes

Agree with Passag, probably would add Asif and Shoaib drug scandal there as well.

Best:
- Indians getting seamers in Munaf and Sree who have at least showed a lot of promise
- Jayawardene leading SL with style, looking like a very good captain.
- Sanga and Jayawardene record breaking partnership

Worst:
- First two tests of the Pakistan vs. India test series. After so many good test series from 99-2005, to have two dead tests like that was disgusting.

"I am very happy and it will allow me to have lot more rice."

Eoin Morgan on being given a rice cooker for being Man of the Match in a Dhaka Premier Division game.

Samit Patel Breaking through and making his mark for Notts. A string of half centuries, a powerful 150, and even a few wickets every other game have seen him establish himself as not only as a Notts regular, but an England hopeful too.

Monty Panesar taking his first wicket. From there, you just knew you had something special.

624 run partnership between Jayawardene and Sangakkara. It ripped the record books apart and was a special moment, in the history of cricket

Best
Shahriar Nafees' 138 on the opening day in Fatullah - the dream was alive and kicking.
Monty!
The day Australia and South Africa decided not to bother with the Super Sub for their ODI series.
Mohammad Yousuf - deserved success.
Sangakkara and Jayawardene - one of the few batting records that cannot really be put down to a flatbed track.

Worst
Jason Gillespie - 201*. Shouldn't have happened. Bangladesh's bowlers are certainly good enough to deny him a fifty, let alone a double-ton.
The Oval - a sad day for cricket.
Just about every ODI England played.
England's Ashes preparations (and in general, every two-day, twelve-a-side warmup match. The ICC should step in.)
The first two India v Pakistan Tests - overkill meets pitches that may as well have been made of concrete.

To what extent has Sreesanth emerged? He's been quite inconsistent in ODIs and had a couple of excellent Tests. I wouldn't call it an emergence, because I still think he's on the verge of emerging.

Sreesanth said, "Next ball he was beaten and I said, 'is this the King Charles Lara? Who is this impostor, moving around nervously? I should have kept my mouth shut for the next ball - mind you, it was a length ball - Lara just pulled it over the church beyond the boundary! He is a true legend."

To what extent has Sreesanth emerged? He's been quite inconsistent in ODIs and had a couple of excellent Tests. I wouldn't call it an emergence, because I still think he's on the verge of emerging.

Not to mention his mental breakdown in WI, and his often waywardness even in current tests (coupled with excellent bowling other times). So he still has to show me something over the next year before I call him the real deal.

Originally Posted by KungFu_Kallis

Peter Siddle top scores in both innings....... Matthew Wade gets out twice in one ball

Not to mention his mental breakdown in WI, and his often waywardness even in current tests (coupled with excellent bowling other times). So he still has to show me something over the next year before I call him the real deal.

To be fair to adharcric, it all depends on how one defines 'emergence'. Technically Pathan emerged as the leading Indian bowler in 2004, he just was never that good, but he still 'emerged'.

I wouldn't group him with Panesar then, because Panesar's accomplishments have come with a bit more consistency. Granted, they've only been in Tests. Also, I'd much sooner say that Munaf Patel emerged in Indian cricket than Sreesanth did. Patel was impressive far more often.

Of course they do, but I can't say that a player has emerged without having a larger body of work to look at. And even in the 1st test, Sreesanth was impressive and then lost it for a bit before becoming impressive again. And I can't just forget the mental breakdown in WI.